The
Evolution of This Site
Though
this may be difficult to imagine for some of the younger visitors to this
site (who have grown up with the Internet as part of their
lives), I can clearly remember the first time I saw the
World Wide Web -- and of course, one of my first thoughts
was about Dark Shadows. :)
It
was 1995, and at that point there weren't nearly as many
websites as there are today, and sites produced by "amateur"
webmasters were not very well designed. (There were lots
of huge, distracting, colorful headlines: tacky, needless
animated graphics; and things like that.) But the first
time I "surfed the web" and discovered a few of
the pioneering, first DS websites, I knew I'd found
a great outlet for my own DS writing.
At
that point I was writing a new DS book: Big Lou, the biography of Louis Edmonds. And I'd already written and self-published about
a half dozen fanzine-style DS books, and sold them
at Dark Shadows Festivals and through the mail. But
the problem with paper fanzines is/was that they're pretty
expensive to produce. Most 'zine editors make little or
no profit, so these projects are labors of love, and a way
to share your passion for a favorite TV show, movie, actor,
etc., with other fans.
When
I did that first surfing session, I was in my "starving
artist" period, soon after moving to New York City,
so all of my 'zines were out of print. And since I'd never
made much money on them, it made sense to me that if I created
a website, I could get the satisfaction of sharing my DS-related
writing with my fellow fans without spending much, and so
what if I didn't get any money for it? I had lots of content,
including a few previously unpublished interviews with DS
cast members, and lots of photos -- so I created a site
called Collinweb and posted it on a free web-hosting megasite
called Geocities. As I worked on my book Big Lou, the biography of Louis Edmonds, I interviewed a lot of his former costars, including Nancy Barrett and Diana Millay, who became good friends of mine. So, as I ventured onto the web, Louis, Nancy and Diana went virtually with me. On Collinweb, I posted some preview chapters from Big Lou, and I established "official" sites for the ladies, to promote Diana's cookbook, which I was editing; and Nancy's burgeoning cabaret show, which I was managing. (What would I have done with my free time, those first couple of years in NYC, if not for DS-related projects?? :) )
After
Collinweb had been up for a while, I decided that "Dark
Shadows Online" was a better, easier-to-remember name,
so in 1999 I registered and starting using darkshadowsonline.com. (That basic Collinweb site is still accessible, because I forgot my password a long time ago, so I can't delete it... You can see it here. It contains some content I haven't moved to DSO, including some text from my old fanzine Victoria Winters.)
When
I was planning what the site would look like, and what information
I wanted to put there, I looked around at other DS
sites to see what other webmasters were doing. I feel like
it's pointless to redo what someone else is already doing
well, so I decided not to do things like episode guides
because the webmaster of Dark
Shadows Dot Com has created an excellent database with
summaries of every DS episode as well as such info
as which cast members are in each one.
When
I launched this site, I had no way of knowing it would eventually become an important part of my battle with a
ferocious disease. In
mid-October 2002, I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.
I'd just turned 36, and besides a few vague symptoms, I'd
been in good health, so that was just about the last thing
I was expecting. "Stage 4" means the cancer spread
beyond my colon, to my liver. I had surgery to have a small
part of my colon removed (then, as my friend Nancy Kersey
pointed out, I had a "semi-colon"). Soon after
that, I started chemotherapy, to target the cancer in my
liver
Just
after that surgery, at a Dark Shadows-related event,
DS star Diana Millay casually mentioned on stage
that I was ill. I soon got email from people who heard Diana
say that, checking to see if I was ok, so I decided to let
my friends and acquaintances know what was going on. I posted
a message about my health on this site, and within hours
I was getting words of hope and encouragement from friends
and from people all over the world that I'd never met.
As
a writer it's sometimes difficult to tell whether what you've
written has actually been read and/or enjoyed. It's been
gratifying to hear from people who have gotten pleasure
from my books and this site -- and the words of encouragement
about my health have been a big morale booster. Attending DS Festivals, it has also
been great seeing old friends and meeting new DS fans who've discovered my work here on DSO.
Ever
since I was a kid, Dark Shadows has held a very special
place in my life. (You can read about that by clicking here.)
And as I've faced this challenge, once again I've gotten
comfort from watching episodes while resting and recovering (this time, on DVD),
and by hearing from my fellow fans and friends. I'm doing
well, but there's still a long road ahead, and knowing there
are many people out there pulling for me -- and praying
for me -- helps me face it. I want to thank everyone who
has contacted me. I deeply appreciate it.
--
Craig Hamrick
Winter 2005
craig@craighamrick.com.
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Learn About Colon Cancer
Each year, more than 100,000 Americans are told they have colon cancer -- the second deadliest form of the disease. In 2002,a few days after my thirty-sixth birthday, I became one of those people.
-- DSO Webmaster Craig Hamrick
Please visit the Colon Cancer Alliance website to learn if you could be at risk -- and what you can do. |
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